astronomy

Paula Jofré

Paula Jofré is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Paula Jofré rather than just read about it. In short: Paula Jofré (born 1982) is a Chilean astronomer and astrophysicist. She was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Next, 2019, for her work with British anthropologist Robert Foley resulting to their collaboration about how "stars birthed in particular parts of the universe could be elementally related because they condense out of the same interstellar clouds" and "pass on their chemistry, much like parents pass along par…

Key takeaways

Paula Jofré belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reference excerpt

Paula Jofré (born 1982) is a Chilean astronomer and astrophysicist. She was named one of Time Magazine's 100 Next, 2019, for her work with British anthropologist Robert Foley resulting to their collaboration about how "stars birthed in particular parts of the universe could be elementally related because they condense out of the same interstellar clouds" and "pass on their chemistry, much like parents pass along parts of their DNA to their children."

Biography Paula Jofré was born in 1982 and is the eldest of three daughters of a Chilean father and German mother.

Education and work Jofré studied at the Colegio Alemán de Santiago, and Colegio Santa Úrsula de Vitacura, all-girls high school. Her interest in astronomy began with her mother's suggestion for a school project, for which she went to the National Astronomical Observatory (Chile) on Calán Hill and met astronomer José Maza. From that introduction, her interest in astronomy grew over the years, and she applied and entered the Astronomy degree at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, where she graduated and obtained a scholarship to study at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany. She went on to earn her Ph.D. at LMU Munich.

After this, Jofré and her family moved to France, where she entered the University of Bordeaux for a post-doctorate with projects related to the Gaia space mission. She was then accepted as a postdoc at the Institute of Astronomy, at the University of Cambridge. During this period she worked with Gerry Gilmore, and also gained entry to King's College at the University of Cambridge. There, she met Foley and began investigating "star DNA." Her research was described by Grossman.Stars from the same gas cloud should have almost the same chemistry. That’s similar to how siblings share a lot of the same DNA. The analogy is close enough that Jofré, Foley and their colleagues built a three-branched tree showing the relationships of 21 stars that are siblings of the sun. They described it [in 2017] in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.In 2017, she returned to Chile to join the astronomy department of the Diego Portales University in Santiago, Chile, as an assistant professor.

Research Jofré's research focuses on the investigation of galactic astronomy, with the main emphasis on the analysis of stellar spectra, to understand the physical processes that shape the Milky Way. She is concerned with the investigation of stars observed with high-resolution spectra, developing, among other things, family trees based on the origin of the matter that makes up stars. With Robert Foley she has studied the chemical spectra of the sun and 21 other local stars, identifying a type of genetic connection among them and have charted family trees.

Personal life Jofré is married to astronomer Thomas Maedler; they have two children.

Selected publications Jofré, P., & Weiss, A. (2011). The age of the Milky Way halo stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 533, A59. Jofré, P., Heiter, U., Soubiran, C., Blanco-Cuaresma, S., Worley, C. C., Pancino, E. L. E. N. A., ... & Van Eck, S. (2014). Gaia FGK benchmark stars: Metallicity. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 564, A133. Jofré, P., Heiter, U., Soubiran, C., Blanco-Cuaresma, S., Masseron, T., Nordlander, T., ... & Vallenari, A. (2015). Gaia FGK benchmark stars: abundances of α and iron-peak elements. Astronomy & astrophysics, 582, A81. Jofré, P., Jorissen, A., Van Eck, S., Izzard, R. G., Masseron, T., Hawkins, K., ... & Manick, R. (2016). Cannibals in the thick disk: the young α-rich stars as evolved blue stragglers. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 595, A60. Jofré, P., Heiter, U., & Soubiran, C. (2019). Accuracy and precision of industrial stellar abundances. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 57, 571-616.

Recognitions Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the year, 2019. Science News magazine as one of the 10 most promising under 40 scientists in the world.

References

External links Paula Jofré Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paula Jofré

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paula Jofré claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paula Jofré before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paula Jofré ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paula Jofré

In research: Paula Jofré appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paula Jofré in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paula Jofré is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1982 births, 21st-century Chilean scientists, 21st-century Chilean women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paula Jofré outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Paula Jofré in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paula Jofré means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Paula Jofré out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Paula Jofré in simple terms?

Why does Paula Jofré matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paula Jofré?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paula Jofré.